What is the Main Street program?
The Main Street program was created in 1980 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. While the original concern was the preservation of important downtown historic buildings, the program developed to create a healthy economic climate that would allow businesses to thrive in these downtown buildings. The 4-tier approach (promotion, design, economic restructuring, and organization) is comprehensive and systematic. North Carolina was one of the original states to charter the Main Street program.
The National Trust Main Street Center is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. From the NTMSC website: In the 1970s, the National Trust developed its pioneering Main Street approach to commercial district revitalization, an innovative methodology that combines historic preservation with economic development to restore prosperity and vitality to downtowns and neighborhood business districts. Today, the message has spread, as the Center advocates a comprehensive approach that rural and urban communities alike can use to revitalize their traditional commercial areas through historic preservation and grassroots-based economic development. It has created a network of more than 40 statewide, citywide, and countywide Main Street programs with more than 1,200 active Main Street programs nationally. Butler Downtown (under the name Butler Downtown Revitalization Committee) officially applied for Main Street designation in 2005, after months of preparation and fundraising eff
The Oklahoma Main Street Program is a statewide program with a preservation-based approach for Oklahoma s business district revitalization. Main Street was developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C. to encourage business and government resources to support local downtown revitalization efforts. The program has been successfully used by more 1200 cities in over 40 states. Since the start of the Oklahoma Main Street Program in 1986, 44 Oklahoma towns and urban area communities have been designated as Main Street programs. The Main Street philosophy for the revitalization of business district is simple: rehabilitation of existing structures by capitalizing on the unique quality of the building and combined with a marketing and management program. This program is successfully integrating a strategy for physical improvement on N.E. 23rd street buildings and public spaces, an aggressive promotion and image building program, and economic development for the
